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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25769890">The Last Stark</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Comet/pseuds/Blue_Comet'>Blue_Comet</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Stark Saga [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adoption, Angst, Avengers Family, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Iron Man 3, Iron Man 3 Compliant, Iron Man 3 Spoilers, It's only one part, Nightmares, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parent Tony Stark, Post-Avengers (2012), Post-Iron Man 1, Post-Iron Man 2, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Tony Stark, SHIELD, There is a lot of fluff tho to make up for it, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, no beta we die like men</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 06:21:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>17,277</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25769890</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Comet/pseuds/Blue_Comet</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Skylar finally takes a stand. Despite being nearly scared out of her mind, she wants to stop whatever her father has planned.<br/>It doesn't matter if she's small, it doesn't matter that the entire warehouse is filled with dangerous criminals, it doesn't matter that she has no real clue what she's doing.<br/>Or even that she is only eleven years old.<br/>Yep, everything is gonna turn out just fine....</p><p>"If there is nowhere else to turn and you feel like you're at the bottom, take a look up into the sky. Sometimes you just need the reminder that the only direction left to go is up. Besides, the view from the bottom is too amazing to miss." -Dakota S.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Pepper Potts &amp; Original Female Character, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Tony Stark &amp; Avengers Team, Tony Stark &amp; Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Stark Saga [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1869451</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Shut up Yoda</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Skylar finally takes a stand. Despite being nearly scared out of her mind, she wants to stop whatever her father has planned.<br/>It doesn't matter if she's small, it doesn't matter that the entire warehouse is filled with dangerous criminals, it doesn't matter that she has no real clue what she's doing.<br/>Or even that she is only eleven years old.<br/>Yep, everything is gonna turn out fine....</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello!!!! This is my first story, I hope you all like it as much as I did writing it! We're in for a long ride folks lol<br/>The teen rating is for cursing. There is quite a bit of cursing haha.<br/>I mean, you can't have a Stark without cursing, that just isn't possible.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Television corrupts the brain, as studies have shown. When watching T.V. for long periods of time, it changes the anatomical structure of one's brain and lowers verbal abilities. Behaviorally, it sometimes causes higher rates of antisocial behavior, obesity, and mental health problems. But this isn't why Skylar didn't like the television. It produces lies, showing the audience different shows or movies that, all together, have the same things; perfect worlds with perfect problems and perfect solutions to every perfect problem.</p><p>Skylar never liked T.V., but that never stopped her from wishing she could be those people inside the box. Skylar could have cared less about the scientific studies on the detrimental effects of sitting in front of a metal box for hours on end. She could've cared less about the terrible acting, or cliche endings. What she cared about the most, was the portrayal. Skylar hated how each character on each t.v. shows were made with some sort of problem that could easily be fixed.</p><p>Sure, Skylar was probably overthinking things, but she was eleven. An eleven-year-old kid is bound to overthink the smallest of things, especially since those things are pieces of fiction.</p><p>Skylar had never known what it was like to have normal problems, that's partially why she hated television so much. Her life was far different than anything the T.V. portrayed and it made her feel heartbroken. The shows made it seem like their problems were the worst problems in the universe. Again, her eleven-year-old brain was overthinking it all, but what else could she do? She was stuck in a house with just her imagination and thoughts.</p><p>At this moment, Skylar wished she was in front of the cursed T.V. instead of an abandoned warehouse in the middle of nowhere. She was acting as bait for one of her dad's schemes again. Skylar sat on a crate with her legs crossed, glancing around her with caution as criminals continued to work around her.</p><p>She wasn't sure what everyone was doing individually, but she knew it wasn't good.</p><p>"<em> Skylar </em>!"</p><p>The young brunette flinched and turned her head towards the sound of her father's voice, waiting for him to continue.</p><p>"Hey, kiddo." Her father rubbed her head, "Are you doing okay?"</p><p>Skylar nodded, "Yes, sir."</p><p>Her father sat next to her, looking at all the working men and women. Skylar following his gaze, observing all of the hard and calloused faces.</p><p>"Well, we're almost done. We're just doing a quick re-calibration of a few of the stunners and we'll be all set." Her dad looked through his dirty blonde bangs with cynical pride.</p><p>Skylar nodded, knitting her eyebrows together slightly. She didn't like his plans, people always ended up getting hurt, especially innocent people. The only good part about <em>this </em>plan, in particular, was that it was in a remote place. Skylar always hated her dad's schemes, but she kept it to herself so she wouldn't anger him. Going along with it seemed to not rile her dad up as much as he usually was.</p><p>"Do you know your part, Skylar?" He looked at her expectantly.</p><p>Skylar nodded, "Yes, sir."</p><p>"Good," his face morphed into a scowl as he pointed harshly at his daughter's face. She flinched back as her father growled, "<em> Now don't screw it up</em>. He needs to pay."</p><p>And with that, her dad stood and walked towards a group of loitering criminals, leaving Skylar fearful of the future.</p><p>Skylar wasn't supposed to know what her father's plan entailed, he feared that she would somehow mess everything up since she was a child. But Skylar was smart, smarter than most kids her age.</p><p>A few days ago, she had found a way to listen in on her father's briefing with the others. Skylar only needed to figure out what to do with that information.</p><p><em> I need to do something</em>, Skylar thought and tried racking her brain for some kind of plan. Did it matter that she was only eleven?</p><p>No! Not at all!</p><p>...</p><p>Maybe a little.</p><p>
  <em>What on Earth am I supposed to do?!</em>
</p><p>Communication? No. Her dad banned communication and put a jam on transmissions.</p><p>Espionage? Definitely not. Her dad would kill anyone he suspected of it, and her dad always found out if there was espionage. His weapons were too valuable to him.</p><p>That an the entirety of the warehouse filled with criminals were absolutely terrified of the man. There was absolutely no way any of them would even <em>think</em> of betraying Michael.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> What else? </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Skylar had to come up with something, <em>anything</em>. Her uncle's life was in danger. Skylar wished Trickshot was there with her, he would come up with something and ease her anxious mind. <em>And</em> would find some ridiculous way to integrate puns and jokes into it.</p><p>Skylar bit her lip in thought<em>, I could try and communicate with Tony's A.I. But communication is banned, </em> her dad would find out.</p><p>It would be impossible to do anything for her uncle if her dad was around. Skylar looked up and around as the gears in her head turned, <em>backup plans… </em> There were always <em>backup plans. </em> Michael wasn’t an idiot, if something went wrong they had plans from A all the way to Z; each ranging from still accomplishing the mission (but in a different way) to getting Michael the hell out of there. Michael’s plans almost never went wrong, he was too careful to let anything go wrong so easily, but that didn’t mean he was cocky. There had to be some form of secret communication device that they had if something didn’t go as planned.</p><p>Looking at each criminal, she spotted one talking into a brick-like device up against the wall.<em> That could work</em>, she thought, eyes sparkling with renewed hope. Skye’s heart plummeted slightly as she remembered the mission’s schematics. The phone <em>was </em>used for contact outside of the building, but it only had one direct line to a separate warehouse. Skylar's eleven-year-old brain could hardly work her head around the problem. Then she remembered one of the survival skills her father had taught her when she was younger.</p><p>Change the phone frequency!</p><p>Skylar huffed through her nose and stared at the brick phone on the wall, Well, I might as well give it a try.</p><p><em> Do, or do not. There is no try, </em> came the voice of a little green troll from her memory banks.</p><p><em> Shut up, Yoda, </em> came her reply.</p><p>Skylar waited patiently for the woman criminal to leave the phone, making sure she didn't look suspicious as she did so. Skylar tried to count the necessary alterations to the phone in order to break through her father's phone block. It would be difficult, but she had to try.</p><p>
  <em> Do, or do no- </em>
</p><p><em>Yeah, yeah, Yoda.</em> <em>"Do or do not, there is no try,"</em> <em>we get it...</em></p><p>Once the woman left the phone, Skylar made sure no one was watching or approaching before she sprinted towards the ancient device.</p><p>Skylar took the phone off the wall and sat on the ground behind some crates in order to hide herself. She immediately got to work, removing the back paneling and tweaking with the wires. What she really needed was a computer and an adapter; that would make things much easier, but Skylar didn't have those kinds of luxuries of getting a computer whenever she needed it so she would have to make do.</p><p>Skylar tried to go as fast as she could with the wires and circuits, every second ticking away felt like hours. Her fear of getting caught growing as each minute passed. What if her father came around the corner and saw her messing with the phone? What if another criminal had spotted her and was ratting her out to her father now? So many thoughts swirled around her head that she almost missed the screen light up a bright blue for a split second.</p><p>Well, she must have been doing something right. She was close.</p><p>Each wire had a specific place to go in order to change frequencies and make it to her uncle. Each wire was sharp and they cut into her fingers, causing an extreme amount of pain for the eleven-year-old. But she had to keep going to save her uncle, it took everything she had for her not to yell in surprise and pain whenever she got poked.</p><p>The screen lit up once more, but this time it stayed blue. Skylar stared at it with hope as waiting messages scrolled across the screen.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong> <em> Please Wait... </em> </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong> <em> Please Wait... </em> </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong> <em> Signal target needed. </em> </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Skylar quickly put in the A.I.'s IP signal, slowly recounting the numbers and letters that she had previously memorized from her little sneak into Michael's plans.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong> <em> Signal Targeted... </em> </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong> <em> ... </em> </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong> <em> ... </em> </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Skylar waited patiently for the signal to go through. Hoping that it would at least send a warning to Mr. Stark's A.I. if she couldn't talk to him.</p><p>"Skylar?! Where the <em> hell </em>are you?!"</p><p>The brunette jumped out of her skin, nearly dropping the brick. She heard her father's approaching footsteps and scrambled to hide the phone somewhere safe.</p><p>"Skylar? What are you doing hiding behind there?" Her father asked with suspicion, his head appearing over the top of the crates she was hiding behind.</p><p>"Um," Skylar rubbed her arm, trying not to look at the phone that was safely tucked away behind a loose wallboard as she came up with a fib for her father, "I was hiding. Some of the other criminals were looking at me weird."</p><p>Her dad raised an eyebrow and scowled, turning around to shout at the criminals, his voice echoing throughout the building, "<em> Hey </em>! Listen up, you dickwads!"</p><p>The criminals paused in their routines, turning to look with slight fear at their boss.</p><p>"Anyone who touches Skylar or even looks at her will be sent home in buckets! Your mothers will scream in horror at what I can and <em> will </em>do to you!"</p><p>The felons looked at each other with horror, wondering what on Earth would cause Michael to threaten them that much. Michael seemed to take his time glaring at each and every one of the felons in his presence until he finally waved his hand, "Now, back to work."</p><p>Michael turned back to his daughter with nothing more than annoyance. "Common Criminals, I hate hiring them." He shook his head, "They're just stupid assholes that don't know how to do their job right. They won't do anything to you. They're just trying to scare you." He took hold of her arm and hoisted her over the crate and back onto the ground. "Don't let them see the weakness of fear, Skylar. It'll only cause them to try and take advantage of you. How do you think I've stayed at the top of S.H.I.E.L.D. 's most wanted and feared criminal all this time?" Her dad chuckled, expecting an answer from the terrified girl below him. She shook her head, trying to loosen her dad's tight grip on her arm to no avail. He leaned into her face, kneeling on one knee as he answered with a snarl, "Because I don't let weakness like fear and kindness control me and I definitely don't let others below me tell me what to do.</p><p>"Don't let them," He pointed behind him, gesturing to the criminals, "think that they are above you, Skylar. <em> Ever </em>."</p><p>Skylar nodded again and tried to mask the fear in her eyes, "Y-yes, sir."</p><p>"Good," Michael nodded and stood up, keeping a tight hold on Skylar's arm as he led her to a group of "lesser criminals,” as her father called them. "These," he paused with a grimace, "<em> fine </em> gentlemen are going to go over the plan one last time, and hopefully you’ll all be able to listen for once in your miserable fuc-"</p><p>Skylar began to tune her father and the felons out. She already knew everything she needed to know about her father's plan, it was so simple, a four-year-old could figure it out. What she focused on instead, was the ancient brick of a phone she had hidden in the wall. Skylar could only hope that the signal would go through without detection. She had to warn her uncle, she had to. She ignored her father's warning as the fear and uncertainty flooded into her brain. She saw it on T.V. after all. Weakness can be a strength. As long as you can control it and come to terms with it, it can't control you. Hopefully.</p><p>There sure seemed to be a lot of 'hope' and 'hopefully's today. Yoda would be proud....</p><p>
  <strong> <em> ... </em> </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong> <em> ... </em> </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong> <em> ... </em> </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong> <em> ... </em> </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong> <em> ... </em> </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong> <em> … </em> </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong> <em> ... </em> </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong> <em> ... </em> </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong> <em> ... </em> </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong> <em> ... </em> </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong> <em> Signal Acquired </em> </strong>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Kind of a short first chapter, but they should get longer as more occurs. I already have the next two chapters written so I'll get those up within the next few days.<br/>This is also written on my Wattpad account @blujay4314 (there's no e), but I'd try uploading it here.<br/>Thanks for reading!!!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. A New Hope (maybe)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Skylar's communicator works, but she only gets one shot at sending her message.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Chapter 2, wooo!!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Skylar snuck through the dark hallways, her eyes quickly adjusting to the darkness as she made her way back to her hiding spot. It was slow and painstakingly tiresome, but she managed to reach the wall of crates without attracting any attention from the sleeping criminals.</p><p>Skylar stopped, suddenly, hearing voices from a closed-door on her right and a light turned on, shining from beneath the door. Shadows walked across the floor, talking with each other in hushed tones.</p><p>Realizing the room was only a private meeting room, Skylar visibly relaxed and continued to the wall of boxes. Hiding behind them, the young brunette quickly and quietly pulled out the brick phone and looked at its screen, pressing a few more buttons as she did so.</p><p>The eleven-year-old gripped the phone tightly as it booted up, desperation flooding through her body while she wished that the stupid device would work.</p><p>The screen lit up in a bright blue and she squinted against the harshness. Hope filled her heart as she stared at the brightly lit words displayed in perfect font,</p><p>Signal Acquired.</p><p>Skylar laughed breathily and quietly as to not alert anyone while she practically hugged the phone, smiling with exploding joy. Skylar squirmed where she sat, regaining her composure and checking the signal strength.</p><p>Her breath caught in her throat. Probably shouldn't have celebrated so soon.</p><p>Skylar only had enough for one message, she wouldn't even get a reply. Maybe seventy characters, probably less. One message, that's all she would get.</p><p>Skye had to make it count.</p><p> </p><hr/><p>Dakota turned away from her computer, her eyes beginning to unfocus. Chuckling a bit to herself, she rubbed the cloudiness from her eyes and stood up stretching until she heard a few pops in her lower back.</p><p>"Jarvis?" She called with a yawn.</p><p>"Yes, Miss Stark? How can I be of assistance?" Came the British A.I. from the overhead speaker.</p><p>"Where's Tony?"</p><p>"Your uncle is currently in his workshop, where he usually is." Dakota chuckled. Although it was always subtle, sarcasm was definitely a plus with the Artificial Intelligence.</p><p>"On it. I'll see if I can't get his butt out of the lab for once."</p><p>With that, Dakota left her bedroom and walked down the long hallway to the elevator. Pressing the call button, Dakota waited patiently as the elevator climbed it's way up the tall tower.</p><p>"Tony is always in his lab nowadays, isn't he?" Came a sarcastic comment from beside the brunette.</p><p>Dakota rolled her eyes, "Well, he's working on his suits. Ya' know, keeping the world safe, Cass."</p><p>Cassie shrugged, her frizzy, brown curls bouncing around her head. "I guess, but it doesn't really seem healthy."</p><p>"You're telling me," Dakota scoffed. The elevator chimed and the doors opened, allowing the duo to walk inside.</p><p>"What floor?" Dakota asked Cass as she pressed the floor for Tony's lab.</p><p>Cassie raised an eyebrow and looked at her friend with an unreadable expression, "23A."</p><p>Dakota knitted her eyebrows together and regarded Cassie with a dumbfounded look as the latter leaned against the wall of the elevator and crossed her arms, "23A?"</p><p>Cassie nodded and gestured to the panel of floors, "23A."</p><p>Dakota glanced at the panel and shrugged, "23A it is, then," and she pressed the button for the floor. "Think he's working on something other than a suit for once?"</p><p>Cass laughed, "Hell, no. I wish though. You'd think he'd get tired of working on the same thing over and over again."</p><p>Dakota smirked, "This is Tony we're talking about, Cassie. He may be working on his suits all the time, but he's never working on the same thing."</p><p>Cassie nodded, a knowing look on her face, but didn't say anything. Dakota leaned her arm against the side of the elevator tensing up as she traveled down to the labs.</p><p>"You're worried about him... Aren't you?" Cassie commented.</p><p>Dakota scoffed, looking at Cassie incredulously, "And you're not?!"</p><p>Cassie gave Dakota a serious look, not breaking eye contact, "You know very well that I do, Coda."</p><p>Dakota broke eye contact after a moment, "Yeah, I know."</p><p>"Do you, though?"</p><p>The brunette raised her eyebrows, "What's that supposed to mean? Of course I do, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to doubt you, I just..." Dakota paused at seeing her friend's expression change into something unreadable. Multiple emotions seemed to pass over Cassie's dark-skinned face, most of them Dakota was unable to read. But disappointment seemed to stand out the most. Disappointment and sadness.</p><p>"What?"</p><p>Cassie didn't say anything, just shook her head dismissively, and looked at the elevator doors.</p><p>Dakota sighed, deciding she absolutely hated that look on Cassie's face.</p><p> </p><hr/><p>The elevator dinged and the doors opened, once they did, the sound of Led Zeppelin filled the empty elevator. Although respecting his choices in music, Dakota shook her head at the very loud lyrics coming through the speakers as she walked into the lab.</p><p>"Jay!?" Dakota called and glanced at the ceiling, and on cue, Jarvis turned the music down to a manageable level.</p><p>Before she could thank the A.I., she heard a frustrated groan come from the back of the lab, and a head of brown poked up from under a table, "Jarvis, what the hell?! Why'd you turn it down?!"</p><p>"Tony!" Dakota drawled, crossing her arms,</p><p>Tony's head turned towards Dakota and he frowned, "Oh," and his head slowly disappeared back under the table. Dakota tried her damned hardest not to laugh at the ridiculous sight and began walking towards her uncle. "Tony, come on, you've been here for almost fourteen hours consecutively. You need to stop."</p><p>"Come on! I'm working on something specialllll!" He droned from under the table.</p><p>"You said you'd help me with my suit, not do it for me."</p><p>"I'm noooot, doing it for you. I'm just... coming up with ideas for it."</p><p>Dakota rolled her eyes and she leaned forward against the front of the table. The table was cluttered with papers, blueprints, and spare parts. Dakota glanced around the rest of the workshop, it was the exact same way. A complete mess. How her uncle could find anything was beyond her current level of high school education, "What on Earth are you even doing under there?"</p><p>"There's no room on any of the tables."</p><p>Dakota raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, you'd be right about that. Maybe try cleaning off a table?" Dakota bent down to look under the table at her adoptive father, who was currently scribbling on a couple sheets of paper, hunched over on the floor.</p><p>"No. I need them all out, I have a bunch of projects."</p><p>She rolled her eyes, "Tony, I don't think you've seen sunlight since yesterday morning."</p><p>"Exactly; yesterday. I went outside."</p><p>"To test your suit. You didn't even step out of it," Dakota fixed him with a deadpan stare. Tony barely glanced up, not denying, but not agreeing.</p><p>"Dad, come on. I can't believe I'm the one to tell you that it's past your bedtime."</p><p>Tony slouched at her words and huffed a laugh, shyly looking up at his niece. She hardly ever called him 'dad,' (Dakota assumed it was because Tony was actually her uncle and that it simply felt weird. The first time had been when she was 12, while Dakota was sputtering and stumbling over her words trying to apologize, Tony just looked ready to cry and pull out a bunch of dad jokes at the same time). Her slip-ups were normally when she was tired and done with all kinds of shit, but Tony knew it was because she was still coping with her childhood; whenever Dakota felt like she needed a dad, she'd project it onto Tony. Not that Tony minded, of course, it brought a good feeling to his heart whenever he thought about it. A feeling he hadn't felt in a long time.</p><p>Tony just hoped to whatever deity was out there that it wasn't because Dakota saw her actual dad in Tony. He wouldn't know what to do if it was.</p><p>"Tony you're spacing," Dakota mumbled, having sat cross-legged with her cheek resting on her fist. When had she moved?</p><p>Tony blinked, "Sorry, kiddo," he sighed, "Fine, I'm coming. Gimme a sec."</p><p>Dakota didn't move, raising an eyebrow. Tony glanced up at her, "Can I just finish this idea?"</p><p>Dakota stayed silent, raising her other eyebrow in a "You're joking, right?" expression.</p><p>"Please?"</p><p>"Dad, you said you'd help me build it. Not do it for me."</p><p>"I'm not, I swear. I've just got a bajillion ideas running through my brain and I wanted to write them all down, you know how my brain works, bug."</p><p>Dakota didn't answer, her expression not changing from its deadpan expression.</p><p>"Come on, you know I'd never work on it without you."</p><p>Dakota stayed silent for a few seconds. Then, without so much as blinking, shouted, "Jarvis?"</p><p>"It's true, miss. Tony hasn't been working on the actual suit. Just the designs."</p><p>Tony's lips quirked up and he gestured to the invisible A.I. above him, "See? Take it from the A.I. who's been watching me like a stalker this whole time."</p><p>Dakota blinked slowly and sighed through her nose, "Fine, come one. We're still going upstairs."</p><p>Tony groaned excessively and stood up slowly, hating how his joints popped.</p><p>"Thank you," Dakota huffed and stood up after Tony, "Jay, can you turn off the music? We're going upstairs."</p><p>The lab went silent as the duo walked to the elevator. Tony frowned; he hated it when the lab was silent.</p><p>"What have you been doing?" Tony asked as they passed through the elevator doors.</p><p>"Just some homework, finishing up some math."</p><p>Tony hummed and smirked, "Finished yet?"</p><p>Dakota rolled her eyes, "No, but at least I'm doing something productive."</p><p>Tony gawked and put a hand on his heart playfully, "Mc'Scuse me, I am doing productive stuff."</p><p>"Mhmm, because designing and building suits that you'll probably never use is productive."</p><p>Tony nodded, "exactly."</p><p>Dakota laughed, leaning back against the elevator wall, "What mark are you even on? 26?</p><p>Tony chuckled nervously, "No! Absolutely.. Not."</p><p>Dakota raised her eyebrows and glanced at her uncle, but said nothing, not expecting him to actually give her a number.</p><p>A few beats passed. Then, a small:</p><p>"39..."</p><p>Dakota whipped around to Tony, her eyes widened and mouth agape, "Are you kidding me? 39?!"</p><p>Tony crossed his arms and frowned, "There is nothing wrong with having a hobby of building suits."</p><p>"Tony, this isn't a hobby anymore, this is just an obsession." Dakota slouched, "This isn't good for you."</p><p>Tony rolled his eyes and moved away from the wall, leaning over to look his niece in the eyes, "Dakota, I'm fine. It's not unhealthy, I'm just..." he paused, not sure how to explain his behavior. He needed the distraction? To keep himself busy? To create? He wasn't even sure himself, but he had to show Dakota that he was okay; when, in reality, he really might not be.</p><p>He looked back up at Dakota, a smile forming on his lips, "I'm okay, I promise. The world needs Iron Man, but I can't be there to protect them if my suit isn't fixed up all the time."</p><p>Dakota sighed through her nose again, blinking slowly.</p><p>"I'm working on these suits to protect you, bug," He booped her nose, "and Pepper," His smile faded a little, "I need to protect you both, otherwise," he shrugged, "who else will?"</p><p>Dakota shook her head, a small smile forming on her face, "Then who's gonna protect you?"</p><p>Tony raised an eyebrow, "Isn't that why we're working on your project? You're gonna be there to protect me. You and Pep."</p><p>Dakota huffed a laugh, "We could kick more butt than you ever could."</p><p>"Oooo," Tony smirked and stood up, putting his hands on his hips, "Is that a challenge, little bug?"</p><p>"Not a challenge, Tin Man, just a bet."</p><p>Tony laughed and ruffled Dakota's hair, the elevator opening to Tony's floor and he stepped off the elevator.</p><p>"G' night buggy," and the elevator doors closed. Dakota's smile faded a bit as the elevator moved upwards again<em> , You are so bad at lying, dad... </em></p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><hr/><p> </p><p>Dakota stepped out of the elevator the next morning, a yawn already making its way out of her mouth. She headed straight for the little island in the middle of the kitchen area where Tony was leaning against it, checking a datapad. Dakota sat on a stool with a huff and a slouch.</p><p>"Aaaand how long did you stay up last night?" Tony asked with a smirk, still scrolling through the information on the pad.</p><p>"Not much later than you I bet," Dakota grumbled and leaned forward to put her chin on the counter, "two? Maybe two-thirty?"</p><p>Tony snorted, "no wonder you're up at eleven. And I did go to sleep at a reasonable-"</p><p>"Jarvis?" Dakota called.</p><p>"Four oh-seven, miss," the A.I. responded.</p><p>Dakota glared up at her father with an unimpressed look.</p><p>"You gotta stop doing that," he pointed at her and then pointedly looked up at the ceiling, "and you've gotta stop taking her side!"</p><p>Dakota rolled her eyes and took the box of fruity cereal from the other side of the island, Tony read her mind and grabbed the milk from the fridge, setting it in front of her.</p><p>Fixing up her breakfast, Dakota sat up and tried looking over Tony's shoulder at the datapad, "Wutcha lookin' at?"</p><p>"Test flight simulations," Tony drawled, "It's for some prototype S.H.I.E.L.D has me working on. A jet."</p><p>"That sounds <em> fun </em>," Dakota said sarcastically, eating a spoonful of cereal.</p><p>Tony huffed a laugh, "If you say so. If you ask me, it's a pain in the-"</p><p>"Sir, I'm sorry to interrupt," Jarvis states, "but there seems to be someone that is attempting to hack into my mainframe."</p><p>All seriousness returned to Tony and Dakota's demeanor, "What do you mean?! <em> Who </em>?!"</p><p>"I am not sure, sir. But they do not seem threatening. In fact, all that I am receiving is a repeated phrase of numbers and letters. It may be a coded message."</p><p>"Pull it up, now," Tony said firmly and a holo-screen appeared in front of the billionaire. A single box appeared on the screen with two rows of text. The text was filled with a jumble of numbers and letters like Jarvis said. They didn't make any sense. Not to Tony anyway.</p><p>"Virus?"</p><p>
  <em> "No, sir. Nothing encrypted or hidden with the message." </em>
</p><p>Dakota narrowed her eyes, <em> Why did that look so familiar? </em></p><p>"Threat?"</p><p>
  <em> "I am unable to descramble it, sir." </em>
</p><p>"Math," Dakota said suddenly and Tony looked at her, puzzled. She blinked a couple of times, "It's math, look."</p><p>She pointed to a few lines of the code, "That's a calculus equation, it's for finding the derivative of something, but taking a long way around," then she pointed to the next line, "That one is just an equation, e to the x-"</p><p>"Okay, but why would they send us math?" Tony asked flabbergasted that the thirteen-year-old in front of him knew anything about calculus.</p><p>Dakota stared at it for a few seconds then took her father's datapad, ignoring his sounds of protest. She opened a blank drawing page and began writing, the cereal forgotten. Tony crossed his arms, confused but he knew better than to disrupt her thinking.</p><p>After a few minutes of scribbling, Dakota stopped and continued to stare at what she scribbled with a blank expression.</p><p>"Coda?" Tony asked carefully, "What's wrong."</p><p>She turned the tablet towards Tony without a word and he took it, reading what she wrote. He gaped and looked back at the holo-screen, then back at the datapad, "Holy shit."</p><p>Dakota got off the stool and ran towards the hallway, "Comms."</p><p>"Suit!" Tony responded and the opposite way, towards the balcony. The suit flew towards him as he jumped off the railing, covering himself. He started the repulsors and flew off toward the distressed signal and coordinates. Whoever sent that message was in huge trouble, but Tony would be damned if he didn't do something about it.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading guys!! Let me know what you think!<br/>Comments always welcome.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Is it too late to wish you were a firefly?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Time to see if the message worked. Mr. Stark wouldn't be stupid and come anyway, right?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>There is a small Warning of a child abuse scene. It's only a single part that is described, not even that huge of a scene, barely a couple of sentences, but I just wanted to warn all of you beforehand just in case any of you were sensitive to that.<br/>Also, warning of swearing. This is where my previous warning of swearing appears.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Skylar stared straight ahead, not really paying attention to what was happening around her anymore. The warehouse was in full swing, every worker and criminal scum were rushing around for the prepared arrival of Tony Stark.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was, for lack of better terms, crazy and insane.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And yes, Skylar was definitely aware that the two words meant the same thing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But something was wrong, her father was nowhere in sight and he was supposed to be at the main communications station. That’s what she had heard anyway. Her father had been extra calm today as if he knew something. She wasn’t entirely sure, but whatever it was couldn’t have been good.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar sat on another crate, her legs crossed as she played with a stuffed owl. It’s fur was scruffy and dirty, having lost its softness, and the whiteness on the face had faded to a dull grey - but nevertheless she still loved the small toy. It was the only gift she had ever been given.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Suddenly, the air around the brunette shifted, causing her to shiver as she looked around. Everything seemed darker and cold, the air stale and filled with electricity, but none of the other villains seemed to sense it. With growing fear, Skylar turned her head toward a hallway at the end of the hall.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A shout of rage came from it and Skylar immediately knew what the shift was. Michael stormed into the main room, the villains around him freezing and watching the man as he practically ran towards the comms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“READ ALERT ASSHATS AND CHANGE OF PLANS!!! TONY STARK IS ON HIS GODDAMN WAY!” Michael leaned on the table, his shoulders hunched and teeth clenched together.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar’s mouth gaped as she glanced around the room. At first, the villains only stood there, processing what Michael had just said. Then, like a switch, everyone blinked and began running to their stations to prepare for the billionaire’s arrival.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“SKYLAR!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The young girl jerked out of her stupor and ran over to her father, “Y-yeah?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He snapped his head to look at her and gave a sneer, “Go to your place, </span>
  <em>
    <span>now</span>
  </em>
  <span>. How the </span>
  <em>
    <span>hell</span>
  </em>
  <span> did Tony find out about all of this…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar wasn’t sure if he was talking to her or himself, so she shuffled a little in place, “I don’t know, sir.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>CARE</span>
  </em>
  <span> what you </span>
  <em>
    <span>THINK</span>
  </em>
  <span> or </span>
  <em>
    <span>KNOW</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” he spun on her, causing Skylar to flinch backward, “Get a </span>
  <em>
    <span>MOVE ON</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” and shoved her toward the entrance. Skylar fell, her toy sprawling across the floor. Before Michael could retaliate again, Skye scrambled up and ran toward the entrance of the Warehouse, picking up her owl on the way.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar exited and sat in the middle of the concrete floor outside, cuddling her stuffed owl. How did Tony know where she was? She didn’t send an address or coordinates or anything, only a warning.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Why would he come here? Skylar didn’t even tell him who she was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wait.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Did she?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She did, she introduced herself. But she had to, it was code. He <em>had</em> to have seen the code part.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Nonono. Crap.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Tony knows who she is, he may give her away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Suddenly, the entire warehouse went silent and the lights turned off, her ears buzzing with the sudden lack of noise Two guards stalked out of the giant doors and stopped beside her, both of them holding weapons, one of them training the weapon to her head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar’s heartbeat quickened, her breaths coming out short in fear. She tried to control it, knowing that this was all part of the plan, but </span>
  <em>
    <span>man</span>
  </em>
  <span> was she still afraid.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The duo didn’t say anything as they scanned the skies. It was dark and quiet, only the sound of crickets and cicadas filling the air. The wind brushed against Skylar’s air, giving the girl chills, but she barely paid attention to the cold.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>How did Michael know Tony was on his way?</span>
  </em>
  <span> It had been close to an hour and there was no sign of him anywhere.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar thought she heard the sound of an airplane above them, but dismissed it as being the sound of the power generator behind them in the warehouse switching on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not an airplane or the generator.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jets, loud ones, and it was coming closer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>_________________</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dakota was shaking and pacing, trying to calm her racing heart. It was too similar, too familiar. The message? Who else would’ve-</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Stop, you’re going to spiral</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The writer of the message was a child, judging by the wording of the message (and the fact that they introduced themselves at the very beginning). </span>
  <em>
    <span>A </span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>child</em>
  </b>
  <b>. </b>
  <span>They were being held captive somewhere upstate. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The whole thing was too reminiscent of that night all those years ago. Too familiar. Even with the-</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>No</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span> If she didn’t have a mission to get back to, Dakota was sure she’d go into a full-blown panic.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dakota took another deep breath to calm herself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dakota and Tony weren’t sure if the kid was alone or with a group so they prepared accordingly. Dakota secretly hoped the child was with someone else and not alone with a bunch of criminals and guns. Not like-</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>NO</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Here and now, here and now, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Dakota repeated to herself, soon going from thinking it to muttering it. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Here and now, here and now.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>All that mattered was the here and now. They needed to save this kid and bring he-</span>
  <em>
    <span>them</span>
  </em>
  <span> back safely.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everything would be okay.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>_____________________</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Skylar’s heart plummeted as the telltale glow of what she thought was a distant firefly came closer and closer. Soon, she was able to make out the dark form of Iron Man, his red and gold color scheme lit by his hand, foot repulsors, and the glowing arc reactor on his chest. Even though Skylar couldn’t see his face, Mr. Stark looked pissed off.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Why couldn't you have been a firefly?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>He sped at full throttle and for a moment, Skylar thought Iron Man was going to barrel right into the three before he suddenly shot upwards in front of them and decelerated, floating back down to hover a couple of meters in front of them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stand down, Stark!” One of the guards shouted, releasing the safety on his gun. Skylar jumped and Iron Man’s attention immediately locked onto Skylar and the man holding her.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Come on guys let’s talk about this, no need to hold a little girl at freaking gunpoint!” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Came Tony’s reply as he landed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Out of the suit!” The second ordered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tony sighed and tilted his head from side to side, debating, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Well-”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“OUT OF THE SUIT!” The first yelled and jabbed the gun at Skylar’s head, making the young girl squeak. Skylar tightened her hold on her owl to the point where she began to shake.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Is Iron Man seriously going to let me die?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Okay! Okay!” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Tony shouted, holding his arms out. Something clicked in his armor and Skylar’s eyes widened, </span>
  <em>
    <span>No!</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>But instead of a man, out came tiny missiles which embedded themselves into the chests of the two guards. Skylar let out another squeak and covered her head as the two fell to the ground, lifeless.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She heard the sound of armored footsteps as the billionaire quickly made his way over to the young brunette.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He opened his faceplate, “Hey! Kid!” He knelt in front of her, “Are you alright?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar meekly lowered her arms and peaked up at Mr. Stark.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you okay? Are you hurt? Jarvis!” He called when he didn’t get an answer from the trembling girl.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“No injuries from what I can see, sir,”</span>
  </em>
  <span> came a disembodied voice from within Mr. Stark’s suit and Skylar tensed, looking for where the voice may have come from, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“But I do detect a bit of malnourishment and dehydration.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Tony’s eyes darkened and he pursed his lips, “Let’s get her out of here. Are there any more people here, kiddo?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar only stared at Mr. Stark, disbelief filling her features, “Why did you come?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The billionaire knit his eyebrows together and leaned back in surprise, “What-?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why did you come?!” Skylar asked with more fervor and Tony flinched. The brunette could feel her heart quicken as the air once again became dark and twisted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You need to leave! You-you need to go, Mr. Stark!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re the one who sent me the message…” Tony realized, mouth agape.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar’s eyes widened and she shook her head, “No-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>You’re </span>
  </em>
  <span>Skylar!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"How in the </span>
  <em>
    <span>world </span>
  </em>
  <span>did you hack into </span>
  <em>
    <span>Jarvis?"</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>"Mr.-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, time to go. Jarvis?” but he got no reply. Instead, a loud static crackling noise filled the air. Mr. Stark stood, “Jarvis, what’s going on?” Once again, only static could be heard.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No…” Skylar mumbled and she looked around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tony closed his faceplate and reached out to the little girl,</span>
  <em>
    <span> “Come on kid, we gotta go.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>But she shook her head, her breathing shallow and eyes darting around, “N-No I-I can’t.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tony groaned, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Kid, either we go now, or never! We can’t -”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t you get it!” Skylar shouted, “You can’t leave either!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tony froze, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“What-?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Suddenly, what looks to be a streak of blue and white lightning hits Tony’s armour and he shouts in pain, falling onto his hands and knees. He holds his stomach and groans, Skylar scrambling back a few feet, eyes wide and horrified.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“What the he-”</span>
  </em>
  <span> he was cut off again by another blast of electricity and screamed. Michael and his goons walked out from all sides, circling the billionaire. Michael stepped forward and tilted his head to look down at his brother.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Tony,” He said casually, a hint of smugness crossing his features.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tony looked up, his faceplate opening and he sneered, blood dripping down his nose, “Michael, great to see ya! What has it been? Five years?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Michael rolled his eyes and allowed a small amused smile to grace his lips, “Six. Always a pleasure, kid brother,” and punched him across the face, nearly sending Tony off balance.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skye flinched as she watched the interaction, her eyes wide and breaths coming out short and raspy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tony pursed his lips and glared up at Michael, “What do you want?”</span>
</p><p><span>“Wow!” Michael laughed, stepping backward, “You’re actually taking this seriously, Tony!”</span><span><br/></span> <span>“Of </span><em><span>course</span></em><span> I’m taking this freaking seriously,” Tony ground out. Michael flicked his hand and two goons grabbed Mr. Stark, holding his arms back, “You have a kid held hostage and you’ve managed to knock out most of my power.” </span></p><p>
  <span>Michael chuckled darkly, “Right… yes… </span>
  <em>
    <span>Skylar</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” He looked over to the brunette and his brown eyes darkened further, “Little... </span>
  <em>
    <span>Skylar.”</span>
  </em>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar shrunk under his gaze, still clutching her owl.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thought you could warn him, huh?” Michael asked, slowly walking towards her, “Thought you could just,” he snapped his fingers, “figure out a way to tell him what’s going on and ruin </span>
  <em>
    <span>EVERYTHING?!</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar flinched, unable to reply, even Tony recoiled at Michael’s sudden shout.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Michael leered down at his daughter for a few seconds before his eyes softened, but not into kindness. He relaxed his shoulders and clenched fists, placing them behind his back, “Doesn’t matter. I knew there was a possibility that you’d find a way to contact him and </span>
  <em>
    <span>try</span>
  </em>
  <span> to warn him,” he smiled with true amusement and spun on his heels to gesture wildly with a hop in his step, “but guess what? With </span>
  <em>
    <span>every single </span>
  </em>
  <span>variation of how I thought all of this would go down, Tony </span>
  <em>
    <span>always </span>
  </em>
  <span>came. No matter what,” He tilted his head at his brother with a sickening smile, “because Tony knew that </span>
  <em>
    <span>anyone </span>
  </em>
  <span>asking for help from </span>
  <em>
    <span>me</span>
  </em>
  <span> was in </span>
  <em>
    <span>deep shit</span>
  </em>
  <span>, am I right?” he laughed and clapped his hands together.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark didn’t answer, trying to glare up at Michael, but instead came a pained and hateful grimace.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Michael laughed again and walked back to Skylar with what seemed like happiness, before stopping and helping her up, patting her head. Skylar wasn’t at all sure what to do or say in this situation, afraid Michael was going to hurt her. But he seemed so cheerful.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>He knew I’d contact Mr. Stark? Why didn’t he stop me?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Michael looked back at Mr. Stark with a smile, as if to convey something, but both brunettes were very confused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then Michael’s expression turned hard as he raised his hand and hit Skylar across the face. Skylar shouted in pain and surprise, but before she could hit the ground, Michael had caught her and shoved her forcefully to the ground a couple feet away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her head slammed into the ground, making her vision swim. Skylar could hear Tony shout in alarm and protest while struggling against his captors. She curled up on the ground and prepared herself for more oncoming blows, but they never came.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No! Stop! She’s just a kid, Michael!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Michael rolled his eyes and turned away from Skylar, much to her and Mr. Stark’s relief, “Not just </span>
  <em>
    <span>a</span>
  </em>
  <span> kid, Tony. </span>
  <em>
    <span>My</span>
  </em>
  <span> kid. And I’ll deal with her as I please, asshole.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark’s face pinched with disbelief, “What woman did you have to </span>
  <em>
    <span>sucker </span>
  </em>
  <span>into having a kid?!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A couple of the goons chuckled and laughed at Tony’s remark (Skylar wanting to be one of them), but Michael turned his death glare onto them and they promptly shut up. Michael then whipped back to face his brother, “Get him out of the suit and take him away. We’ll start tomorrow.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>One of the guards holding Mr. Stark took a rod from his belt and jabbed it into the back of the billionaire’s armor. With another scream of pain, electricity flowed from the rod and into the suit, causing it to shudder and break away. Soon, the Iron Man armor was nothing but a pile of pieces around him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar's arms quivered as she tried to pull herself up, but she halted when Michael turned to face her. He flicked his wrist over his shoulder and the two guards dragged Mr. Stark away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Michael only glared at the little girl, looming over her. He stared at her for a long moment before blinking, “Go to your quarters, Skye. And don’t leave.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar didn’t move, wondering if she heard her father correctly. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Go to my room? Just like that?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Michael’s eyes sharpened, “GO!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar jumped out of her stupor and scrambled off the floor, stumbling back into the warehouse. Her vision swam, but she was determined to get back to her room without angering her father further.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The brunette practically crashed through the door, slamming it shut and locking it behind her. Skylar huffed and puffed, her heart racing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She had failed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark still came.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was still caught and captured.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar put her head in her hands when a dizzy spell overtook her and she listed to the side. Trying to catch her balance, she hobbled over to her small cot and sat down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was at this point when Skylar felt a warmish liquid running down the side of her head. She reached up to touch it and froze when she saw the red on her fingertips. Pursing her lips, Skylar struggled to stand and stumble to her tiny bathroom. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Looking in the mirror, she winced at the deep cuts that marred her face. One was long and stretched above her right eyebrow, the other was smaller on her left cheekbone - close to her eye. There was no doubt that her eye would bruise up there, it was already starting to feel tender as she lightly touched it. She pulled out her small First Aid kit from a cabinet and got to work. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t the first time Michael had hit her hard enough to draw blood and it wouldn’t be the last. Skye was just surprised at how easy he had gone on her for what she did.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar’s heart wilted at the thought of a trapped Mr. Stark. She hadn’t tried hard enough, and now the billionaire was paying the price. Whatever Michael had planned for him in the morning couldn’t be good, Skylar was sure of it and she felt absolutely awful.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>One thing was for certain, Skylar was going to do everything in her power to get Tony out of here.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar flinched when she heard a loud clanking sound from outside her door. She finished applying the second bandage on her forehead and turned slowly so as to not give herself whiplash, then she gradually made her way over to the door. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Unlocking the door, she tried to give it a pull to open and see what was going on, but stopped short. The door wouldn’t open, barely even cracked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar pulled as much as she could in order to look through the small crack. Her eyes widened and her heart dropped once again into her stomach. There was a padlock on the outside, locking the young girl in her room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She let go of the door and looked around frantically; no windows, no other doors. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Why hadn’t I figured it out?!</span>
  </em>
  <span> She remembered glancing at the padlock bars every time she entered her quarters, never once realizing that her father planned on using them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar gripped the sides of her head starting to feel a bit claustrophobic, </span>
  <em>
    <span>What do I do now?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>The brunette looked around the room, her eyes landing on a large grate in the wall near the ceiling. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>The vents.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>It was a warehouse, the ventilation system was going to be huge to make up for the large space. Perfect for crawling around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Knitting her eyebrows together and calming her racing heart, Skylar pressed her lips together and made her decision.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>One way or another, she was going to get Tony out of this warehouse </span>
  <em>
    <span>tonight.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Why couldn't you have just been a firefly...?</span>
  </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I already have Chapter 4 almost completely written, so that should be coming out in the next few days. If you guys have gone to my WattPad account, you'll know that my update schedule is absolute sh**, but I am trying to get better. Anyways, thanks for reading!!!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Escape From the Death Star Part 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>It's time for Skylar to find Tony. Her head may be pounding with a headache, but it's fine as long as she finds the man. The idiot who haaaad to come to the warehouse and get caught.<br/>She'd deal with the anger of it later.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Okay so I decided to split Chapter 4 into two parts because it was taking too long to finish and was getting close to 5k words. That, and it's been over two weeks since I've updated on my Wattpad account so it was better to go ahead and post the first part. Chapter 5 will be up soon, I'm almost done with it. Enjoy!!<br/>No warnings with this one.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Skylar opened her eyes to the dark room, barely able to make out any shape in the darkness, but she didn’t dare turn on any light. Skylar was sure Michael was keeping tabs on her movements and whereabouts, but with the padlock on the door and the captured Tony Stark, the brunette hoped Michael would pay too much attention to her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar sat up slowly, kicking the sheets off of her small frame and went to the foot of her bed, her little owl still clutched to her chest. From underneath it, she took out a small box. Inside was a small flashlight, some tape, a flathead screwdriver, and some paper clips. These items were from what she was able to swipe from around the warehouse throughout the past few days. Whenever a bad guy wasn’t paying attention, Skylar would swipe something useful just in case she needed it for the future. In fact, the screwdriver was usually kept on her person at all times, she used it to pry off the back of the ancient phone in order to contact Mr. Stark.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar’s stomach dropped once again at the thought of Iron Man and she lowered her gaze to the floor. This was her fault, Tony shouldn’t have been captured, he shouldn’t have been anywhere near the warehouse. Skylar should have warned him better, used every single character she could to warn Tony about the dangers of Michael.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar shook her head, grabbing the flashlight and screwdriver. Pulling the bed carefully so as to not make any screeching noises and alert her father, she positioned it under the grate in the wall and climbed up onto it, tossing her owl on top. Skylar was still short a couple of inches from the vent cover, but she could work with it. The screws on the grate were phillips heads, but Skylar jammed her flat head in anyways, twisting at weird angles to fully turn each screw until they popped off. The top two were tougher to get (since they were nearly a foot above her head), but with a great deal of stretching, complaining, and patience, the brunette finally unscrewed the last two.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Setting down the screws and screwdriver, Skylar switched on the flashlight and took a look inside. It was dark, the light from the flashlight glinting off the metal of the vent. Sighing through her nose, Skylar tried to gulp away her fear. It wasn’t too small, at least not for the eleven-year-old, but it still gave her a feeling of claustrophobia Skye couldn’t shake off. Her heart rate quickened and her hand shook, the light trembling against the metal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not now, Mr. Stark needs you…” Skylar mumbled, nearly inaudibly, and set her lips into a determined, thin line. “You can do this,” she clenched her hand around the flashlight to stop its tremors and carefully hefted herself inside the ventilation system.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>You can do this, you can do this.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>With the flashlight pressed between her lips and the owl clutched under her arm, Skylar shimmed her way through the vent, making sure to take the right turns toward where Mr. Stark may be. She could feel his energy all the way on the other side of the warehouse, his fear, anxiety, and anger reverberating through the air, feeling almost like electricity as she crawled towards the man.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The energy was strong, interestingly enough. Unlike other people’s emotions, Mr. Stark’s seems to flow sharply off of him, projecting and causing </span>
  <em>
    <span>(what did dad call it?)</span>
  </em>
  <span> the electromagnetic waves around him to fluctuate and vibrate. However, at the same time, Mr. Stark’s true emotions are almost completely hidden, guarded by a dense wall. Skylar could only feel some of the after-effects; his anger from the sharp and pointy vibrations and slight anxiety from where the waves became choppy and out of sync. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Curious…</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>The other criminals definitely didn’t feel like this, their emotions were on full display around her. The ripples echoing through the walls and ceiling. A lot of it was confusing to see, however. Most of the criminals Skylar met may have had blaring emotions, but all of the wave vibrations seemed irregular and were hard to put together.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar sighed through her nose. It was hard reading people in general, even with her strange abilities.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As Skylar snuck through the vent, she caught glimpses of other rooms from grate openings below or on her side. Criminals asleep in their cots or guards patrolling the halls. She couldn’t see Michael anywhere, hoping that he was just in his quarters and not walking around anywhere. It was late anyway, nearly 1 A.M. if the clock in the main foyer was right, and Skylar knew Michael hated missing sleep.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar took another right in the air vent and breathed deeply, trying not to think about the enclosed vents space around her small frame.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In what felt like an eternity of quietly shuffling through the ventilation systems, Skylar approached a grate on her right that led to a nearly pitch-black room. It was so dark, Skylar may have completely missed it if it weren’t for the strong energy fluctuations that came from there. Skylar crouched in front of the grate, turned off her flashlight (as to not alert anyone), and looked inside. She saw a figure slumped in the far corner, a white and blue circle adorning his chest, the glow from it covered up with a black t-shirt and jacket. The light only barely illuminated the man’s face. Skylar quickly recognized that the man was, in fact, Tony Stark. He seemed to be asleep, the air around him naturally calm from his dreaming, but no less choppy and fearful.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar frowned, filled with guilt at the sight and hugged her owl. Tony was battered and bruised, a deep cut above his bruised right eye, a few more deep scrapes and cuts around his face and arms. He was bent around his stomach, clutching it even in his sleep. He must have gotten hit there, or it’s the after-effects from the electrocution. Skylar felt a knot form in her stomach and a weight settle over her shoulders.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This was her fault. All of it. She should have been more convincing, more precise in the dangers. She should have tried harder. She should have found a better way to warn him, maybe another communication device so she could have actually talked to the man. Or destroyed the weapons Michael built, despite the consequences that would come with it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This was all her fault, but Skye would be damned if she didn’t try and fix it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar focused on the soft fluctuations of energy surrounding the single guard outside of the heavy, metal door. They were slow and long, almost peaceful, as if the guard was slowly falling asleep. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>With any luck the guard </span>
  <em>
    <span>would</span>
  </em>
  <span> fall asleep, and wouldn't be alerted to whatever noise Skye was bound to make.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The brunette tried to push against the vent opening, but it wouldn’t budge. Like the one in her quarters, it was drilled closed. Skylar pursed her lips and turned the flashlight back on to try and silently wake up the slumbering genius. She waved it at Mr. Stark’s eyes, hoping he didn’t freak out and that no one outside the door could see it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark shifted then jerked awake, anxiety pooling into the air around him as he squinted against the light. Skylar dropped the light to the floor, which the billionaire followed. He immediately relaxed once he realized it wasn’t Michael or any of the other guards, but he grew no less wary.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar pressed the on/off switch a couple of times and waved it at her face, pressing a finger to her lips. Mr. Stark frowned, knitting his eyebrows together. He seemed to recognize her but stayed slouched against the wall.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you doing here?” Stark whispered hoarsely, completely ignoring Skylar’s attempts at getting him to shut up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Huffing, Skylar leaned against the vent opening, “I’m trying to get you out of here, Mr. Stark.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The billionaire raised an eyebrow, “You need to get your eyes checked if you think I’m gonna fit in that vent.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know you’re not going to fit,” She took the screwdriver from her back pocket and wiggled it through the grate in the vent so Mr. Stark could see it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark pursed his lips and gingerly stood up, keeping an arm around his ribs and a hand on the wall for support. He approached the vent warily, taking the tool from Skylar. He glanced between it and Skylar for a few minutes while he thought, the young brunette watching the air around him shift and vibrate with each different thought.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Unable to fully see what Stark was thinking, Skylar clamped her hands together to stop their nervous shaking. She worried that Mr. Stark wouldn’t trust her or would call the guard. Man, she hoped he wasn’t thinking of calling the guard. He would have every reason to, after all, Skylar was the one who got him caught in the first place. Mr. Stark may even tattle on her to keep himself safe. If he kept to the rules and stayed on Michael’s good graces, Stark wouldn’t be punished for Skylar’s actions.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar was in the process of planning an escape route when Mr. Stark suddenly reached gingerly up to the top of the grate (minding his injuries) to unscrew the bolts, nearly making Skye flinch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Thank the stars Mr. Stark didn’t call the guard.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You do realize that this is a flathead screwdriver right? And the screws on this are philips?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar’s lips quirked in amusement, “Yes, sir.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Stark rolled his eyes, moving to the next screw and wincing when it pulled on his ribs, “ Nope, no ‘sir’. I’m not an old fart.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar nodded but didn’t reply, not entirely sure what to call him instead.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark looked at her with a playfully strange look as the last screw was removed. The grate made a small creaking noise as it was removed and the duo froze. Skylar’s heart rate jacked up as she stared at the cell door and held her owl with a vice-like grip, Tony tensed but didn’t turn around, opting to listen. Skylar refocused on the guard outside, who made no indication that they heard anything through the metal door. The fluctuations stayed the same, if not a little quieter, which made Skylar sigh in relief.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We're good," Skye whispered, "the guard is practically falling asleep."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tony quirked a worried eyebrow and slowly turned around to look at the door, "How do you know that?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar tilted her head with confusion, "what do you mean?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tony opened his mouth to ask something, but then shut it and shook his head, lightly putting down the vent grate.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar climbed out of the vent with a grimace, swaying on her feet a little when her head began to swim. She felt a hand steady her and unconsciously flinched back at the touch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark pulled his hand back abruptly, “Sorry. Are you okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar blinked slowly and nodded, “Yes, I’m okay. Just dizzy,” but before Stark could respond, Skylar walked past him and to the door, “There’s a guard out there, we won’t be able to leave this way without attracting their attention.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t have a plan already?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skye looked shyly back at the billionaire, “I do, but…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But? But what? Kid,” Mr. Stark rubbed his eyes, “okay, I know I tend to blast first, ask questions never, but </span>
  <em>
    <span>now</span>
  </em>
  <span> i-it’s-” He cuts himself off and turns around, raking a hand through his hair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mr. Stark, I know this isn’t a game,” Skylar clenched her fists together around the owl, trying to keep herself from shouting, “and I have no idea what I’m doing. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I know that</span>
  </em>
  <span>. B-But I just c-can’t keep doing </span>
  <em>
    <span>nothing</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The genius turned to face Skylar, multiple expressions crossing over his face, and the energy around him becoming complicated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar sniffed, willing the wetness in her eyes to go away, but she was frustrated and angry and upset and confused and lost. She didn’t know what the hell she was supposed to do, “I-I’ve been d-doing nothing f-for far too long. I just want t-to…” She shrugged and gestured around her almost frantically, “I-I-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark’s expression settled on one of understanding and for a moment he almost looked apologetic, but he schooled his features before moving in front of the girl, grunting a little as he crouched in front of her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His eyes were soft and he nodded slowly, “We’ll figure it out, kiddo, it’s okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar nodded jerkily and forced herself to calm down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tony cracked a smile, “So… You’re my niece, huh?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The brunette took a deep breath, the corners of her lips twitching up, “Yeah, I guess so,” not knowing what else to do, Skylar swallowed and stuck out her hand in between them, making Tony blink and jerk a little in surprise, “Hi, my name is Skylar Olive Stark, it’s nice to finally meet you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark’s eyes glinted in amusement and he seemed to genuinely smile. He took her small hand into is much larger, calloused one, giving it a small shake, “Tony. It’s nice to know you exist.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar giggled quietly, wrapping her arm around her owl again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark pointed to the stuffed animal, “Who’s your friend?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The young Stark looked down at the owl, her smile turning soft and nostalgic, “Tricky, he’s my friend.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ ‘Tricky’? Strange name, why Tricky?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar hunched up her shoulders in embarrassment, “It’s the name of the person who gave it to me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Stark raised an eyebrow, “The guy who gave this to you was named Tricky?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar rolled her eyes, "</span>
  <em>
    <span>No,</span>
  </em>
  <span> his name was Trickshot."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark's eyes widened a bit and his lips parted with recognition and surprise, but Skylar didn't pay attention and pet her owl lightly, "He was the only person to give me anything, so I named it after him," her smile fell, "but that was the last I saw of him."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Really? When was that?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar shrugged, "When I was seven or eight."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well, that doesn't seem too long ago, maybe he's still out there somewhere."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar raised an eyebrow, "that would've been four years ago, Mr. Stark."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The billionaire blanched, "H-how old are you?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Eleven, why?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A sudden wave of emotions crossed his features and fluctuated through the air around her, making her wince a bit. Skylar grew very confused. Sure she didn’t look eleven, but she made up for that in knowledge. Had Mr. Stark thought she was older than eleven? Is that why he suddenly looked so disbelieving and angry?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar tensed, feeling defensive. Just because she was younger than she looked didn’t mean she could handle herself or the situation, “Mr. Stark, I can handle this. I've been through worse situations."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Mr. Stark didn't answer, in fact, her comment seemed to make his thoughts worse. He appeared to be internally debating something, the fluctuations getting stronger and weaker as he tried to come up with an answer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finally, Tony set his jaw and stood up with another grunt of pain. He looked to the back to the wall, scanning it, “Is the whole thing concrete?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The cell? Yeah, Michael made sure all of the cells were reinforced with concrete, including my quarters.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Another flash of something crossed over Stark’s face before it was quickly replaced with determination. He pulled a small piece of metal out of his pocket, tossing it in the air and catching it, “I have an idea.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Comments welcome! Let me know what you all think!! Also thank you to those who bookmarked and left Kudos!! There are only a few but it really makes me smile to see that you like it :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Escape From the Death Star Part 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Skylar rethinks her name choices and Tony tries to prove Jarvis wrong.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>WOW, this one turned out a looooot longer than I thought. Holy crap, this is over 6.5k words. I am sooo happy I split chapter 4 when I did. It would've been over 10k words!! Big oof haha.<br/>Welp, hope you guys enjoy this extra-long chapter!!<br/>And thanks again for the Kudos!! It really means a lot!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Once again, Skylar found herself scurrying through the air vents on a mission. This time, however, she was prepared and had a plan. A plan by Tony Stark; one that </span>
  <em>
    <span>definitely </span>
  </em>
  <span>couldn’t fail.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Because he was freaking </span>
  <em>
    <span>Tony Stark</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar had been so wrapped up in trying to save the man from her sociopathic father that she had completely forgotten the fact that he was a </span>
  <em>
    <span>literal</span>
  </em>
  <span> icon of the tech and science industry. A genius that built a reactor powered suit in a </span>
  <em>
    <span>cave</span>
  </em>
  <span> and became a freaking hero. An </span>
  <em>
    <span>Avenger</span>
  </em>
  <span>. A brilliant engineer that revolutionized the way the world saw and used technology. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Tony Stark</span>
  </em>
  <span> had just given Skylar her very own mission, and if it weren’t for the fact that there was a high chance of the two of them actually </span>
  <em>
    <span>dying</span>
  </em>
  <span>, then she would definitely be fangirling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But of course, fangirling and geeking out over science will have to wait.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For now, of course.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they finally get out of this warehouse and back to New York City, Skylar will spitfire all the questions her little eleven-year-old brain can conjure up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Holy crap </span>
  <em>
    <span>New York!</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Avengers Tower!</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>The actual </span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>Avenge-</em>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Nope, nope stay on task Skye,</span>
  </em>
  <span> Skylar shook her head and turned a corner, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Find the suit.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Mission first, gush later.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I think I know where the suit may be, Mr. Stark,” Skylar had said, climbing back into the vent, “Michael never truly admitted it, but he always admired your work on it.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>She could tell that Mr. Stark didn’t really know what to do with that information as he leaned up against the wall next to the vent, “Huh, that’s nice I guess.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“But he also wanted it for himself, he wanted to try and duplicate it.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Ah, yeah, that’s less nice and more like him,” the billionaire chuckled dryly.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Skye nodded, “Your suit will probably be in his lab, thankfully I know where that is from here.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar kept going, occasionally turning on the flashlight when it got too dark. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were so close. So close to Mr. Stark’s freedom. And possibly hers, but she didn’t want to dwell on that fact. Skylar had no clue what Mr. Stark wanted to do with her. Whether it was to leave her here or take her with him, she didn’t know. Skylar hoped to whatever deity or force out there that he would take her with him, but she wouldn’t be completely sure. She couldn’t give herself hope, not if it could inevitably crash back down around her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No, she couldn’t do that again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar approached a grate in the floor, one that she was sure led to her father’s private lab. Looking down, Skylar saw the telltale outlines of the pieces of Stark armor littered on the floor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They had decided to reach out to the programmed A.I. once Skylar had mentioned that the effects of Michael’s weapon usually wore off after a couple of hours.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pursing her lips, Skylar kept a tight hold on the metal piece, “J-Jarvis? Hello?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No answer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, Jarvis? Mr. Stark sent me. W-We need to break him out.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still nothing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar began to panic. What if the effects lasted longer? What if Jarvis hadn’t rebooted and the Iron Man suit was just an empty husk? How would she get Mr. Stark the suit? How would they </span>
  <em>
    <span>get out?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Remember,” Mr. Stark had warned, “Jarvis, my A.I., is pro- hold on, do you even know what an A.I. is?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Skylar had nodded and tried not to fix him with a deadpan stare, “Yes, Mr. Stark. An Artificial Intelligence.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Oh, well, nevermind. Remember that Jarvis is programmed to only talk to authorized people, he’s not going to trust anyone talking to him, even if you say that I sent you. You’re going to need proof.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Proof?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Mr. Stark held up a small piece of metal about the size of a half-dollar coin. It was jagged, almost like it was ripped off in a rush. “This is one, of the many, many, </span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>many</em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span>, fail-safes I have programmed into Jay and the armor,” he handed the piece of metal to Skylar, “If someone </span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>ever</em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span> takes my armor from me - which is usually very rare- a small important piece from inside pops off. That way whoever takes it won’t have the whole suit and won’t be able to work it well.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Skylar took the piece, “So what was this?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“A piece from the left gauntlet, it was part of a bigger chunk that regulated repulsor blasts during flight.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Michael would definitely have a hard time getting it to work without this,” the kid mumbled.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Mr. Stark tilted his head from side to side, “nooormally, I’d agree with you there, but this is </span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>Michael</em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span> we’re talking about. He'd probably rebuild it no problem,” he shifted, adjusting his hold on his ribs, “Take that to Jarvis. If he doesn’t respond, tell him I gave that to you and give it to the suit. Or drop it in the pile since it’s probably still in pieces. He should answer you then.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>The brunette tried calming herself down, breathing evenly, and letting the billionaire’s words sink in. Mr. Stark warned her this might happen. Jarvis just doesn’t trust her yet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar held out the small piece of Iron Man armor, “Mr. Stark gave this to me to give to you. He said that this was proof you could trust me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I hope</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She dropped the piece down through the cracks of the grate and winced when it clattered against the other pieces of the suit and onto the floor. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hopefully no one heard that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There were a painful few seconds where Skylar’s panic only began to grow while she waited for any telltale sign that Jarvis was there. Those few seconds felt like hours with how long they stretched.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Suddenly, two lights flickered on in the dark space below, Skylar recognizing them as the eye sockets from the helmet. A humming sound filled the silence as the rest of the suit gradually flickered on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar smiled a bit at the sight. It was almost heartwarming with the way the Iron Man suit was powering on, giving the young girl hope that they could really pull this off. She couldn’t really explain how good it made her feel to see the lights turn on in the suit. Almost as if it was against all odds that this worked out the way it did.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A British voice filtered through the helmet, speaking quietly, but loud enough for the brunette above to hear him, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“how can I be of assistance, Miss Stark?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar faltered a bit, “You know who I am?”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Of course, Mr. Stark had me scan you for an I.D. the moment we arrived. Although, your identification did appear as redacted and it was hard to decipher. The information regarding your relation to Michael was only revealed after he said it himself.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar nodded even though Jarvis couldn’t see it. Or maybe he could, she didn’t know. Maybe he could see through the ceiling and vent. Man, </span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>would be freaking cool.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Focus.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“There are a few protocols for situations like this,” Mr. Stark’s voice came back, “Well, there are more than a </span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>hundred</em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span> protocols for situations like this, but that’s besides the point. Tell him to activate </span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>two </em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span>protocols, one being Beta protocol and the </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Return-To-Sender</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span> protocol.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Skylar had knit her eyebrows together at the second protocol’s name but didn’t say anything about it. She could ask him later when there was no danger of being killed. Instead, she just nodded.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Then, tell him to use the vents to get to me. Like you did.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mr. Stark told me to tell you to activate two protocols,” the brunette repeated, “one being Beta protocol, and the </span>
  <em>
    <span>Return-To-Sender</span>
  </em>
  <span> protocol. You can use the vents as a sneaky way to get to Mr. Stark.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Of course, activating Beta and </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Return-To-Sender</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span> protocols. Passcode?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“P-Passcode? Right. Um.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“He’s gonna ask for a passcode since you’re not me, it’s-”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“-CapsicleOU812,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That had definitely made the young Stark laugh profusely for a solid three minutes. How the guard outside hadn’t heard anything was beyond her.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Password accepted,”</span>
  </em>
  <span> Jarvis replied, and if Skylar didn’t know any better, she’d say that he sounded slightly amused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is there any way you can get up here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Yes, Miss,”</span>
  </em>
  <span> The suit’s pieces then began to move, each part emitting small repulsors to make them soar up towards her vent covering. Each part was </span>
  <em>
    <span>flying</span>
  </em>
  <span>! They were flying! Holy crap!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was so awesome. This time, Skylar couldn’t hold back her fascinated glee as she came face-to-face with the Iron Man mask.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The gate won’t open, it’s screwed shut.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I understand, luckily, the suit has countermeasures.”</span>
  </em>
  <span> One of the gauntlets flew up to the vent and closed the hand into a fist. A small emitter came out of the top of the wrist and began to glow, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“If you would be so kind as to move out of the way? I am dialing the laser to a low setting, but it could still cause harm.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, yeah, of course,” Skylar quickly scooted back from the vent, “I’m clear.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Perfect,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>there wasn’t any sound except another small humming sound. A soft glow point of red and orange appeared and moved with the gauntlet, creating a darker line through the vent. It only took a few moments for Jarvis to cut through the vent, but it felt like ages before the whole thing finally popped off. Jarvis already had the other gauntlet holding the vent in place to minimize the noise, so when he finished he lifted up into the ventilation system and set it aside. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m afraid my scanning systems were damaged by the electric weapon Michael Stark used. I will not be able to locate Mr. Stark myself.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I can lead you to him, I know the way,” Skylar whispered and turned around, beginning her crawl back to Mr. Stark’s cell with the Iron Man suit’s pieces in a line behind her. She didn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> know the way back to the cell, but she knew how to follow Mr. Stark’s energy waves, and she </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> didn’t want to explain how she could do all of that. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Skylar</span>
  </em>
  <span> wasn’t even sure how she could do all of the things she could do. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She didn’t like thinking about it anyway. She felt the need to squeeze her plushie, but Tricky was back with Mr. Stark where she left him.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“You okay, kid?” Mr. Stark asked, raising an eyebrow when Skylar didn’t move farther into the vent, “Forget something?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Could you hold my owl? I don’t wanna lose him.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Catching him a little off guard with the sudden question, Skylar could tell that Tony didn’t really know what to say. He just stood there blinking a little.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Sorry, what?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Can you hold Tricky? I-I shouldn’t carry him while I do this.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Afraid he’ll get in the way?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Skylar knew the billionaire was probably just joking around, but she felt a pang of defensiveness in her gut, “He’d never get in the way, Mr. Stark.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Tony once again was caught off guard by Skylar’s response, but only faltered for a few seconds before raising a hand in surrender, “Sorry, kid, yeah I’ll hold him for you.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Skylar smiled a little and handed Tricky off to the billionaire, “I just don’t wanna lose him.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just another left,” Skylar mumbled and turned, finding the grate that led to Mr. Stark at the end of the shaft. She smiled and poked her head through, "Mr. Stark!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was back to sitting on the floor in the corner with the owl plushie in his arms, his arc reactor lighting up his features through his black shirt. Mr. Stark jumped and looked up at hearing his name, expression brightening a tad when he saw Skylar, but it seemed to morph into that of relief, "did you find him?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before Skylar could answer, there was a whoosh from behind as the Iron Man parts flew past her and into the cell, rebuilding itself into the full armor. Each piece slotted perfectly with each other, bolts screwing and wires connecting. Skylar jumped down from the vent, her head throbbing at the sudden movement, but she ignored it. Mr. Stark stood up again, one hand on the wall to keep him balanced and a gleeful smile on his face, “Good to see you, Jay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“And you as well, sir. I trust that you have a plan?”</span>
  </em>
  <span> Came the British A.I.’s response.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, actually, I thought a lot about it while Skye went to get you,” Tony grimaced at something before turning back to the brunette, “I am </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>gonna lie here, kid, I </span>
  <em>
    <span>really </span>
  </em>
  <span>don’t like your name. Especially </span>
  <em>
    <span>Olive.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar let out a soft giggle at the admission while Mr. Stark approached Iron Man, tapping one of the gauntlets, “Give me a hand, Jay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The right-hand gauntlet disconnected and into Mr. Stark’s free hand. Tony crouched in front of Skylar, handing her Tricky and fiddling with something on the glove, “Not the entire thing, just the hand bit.” The forearm portion disconnected and flew back to the suit, "Take this back," he plucked something off and tossed it into the air, the little jets rushing to correct its fall and return to the suit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okayyyy, Jarvis, give full permissions to user Skylar Olive Stark, and prep the…” He trailed off and a spark of realization filled his features, all movements on the repulsor halting. Mr. Stark was silent for a few seconds, his lips pressing into a thin line, “Skylar Olive Stark.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was silent for another second, blankly looking at something to his right before mumbling, “S.O.S…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar clenched her teeth together and stiffened, Mr. Stark stayed silent while he thought.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your initials spell out S.O.S., you w-” He cut himself off and pursed his lips.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar didn’t know how to respond, an indecipherable look flashing across the billionaire’s face. But as quickly as it had appeared, it disappeared and morphed into something akin to impressed and scarily determined. “As I said, Jarvis, give Skye </span>
  <em>
    <span>full</span>
  </em>
  <span> permissions and prep the taser on the repulsor.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Of course, sir.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark carefully slipped the glove onto Skylar’s hand, much to her surprise. The glove was huge compared to her small hand, “Alright, now, here’s the plan, kiddo,” with another tweak the gauntlet began to adjust, growing smaller to compensate for the smaller hand inside of it and once again, Skylar was in awe, “Please don’t hate me, but I want you to go into the vents again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar made an exasperated face up at the billionaire who, in turn, let out a small snort and chuckle, “I know, I’m sorry, but it’s important. I need you to sneak through the vents and get into the hall outside the door,” he gestured to the metal door in the corner and looked back up at Iron Man, “Hey Jarvis, is there a vent opening in the hall out there?”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I am unable to detect one, sir. My sensors had been considerably  damaged when hit by the electrical blast.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shit, I’ll have to fix that,” Stark mumbled, then winced when he remembered he was in front of a child, “sorry.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There is a vent there, Mr. Stark, I passed it on my way here. It’s on the other side of the hall.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Great, perfect. Head there and cause a distraction for the guard outside the door, sneak out and press your palm to his back. It’ll electrocute him automatically, there’s no command or anything. And hopefully, that vent grate won’t be screwed shut like this one.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think it will be,” Skylar replied, admiring the gauntlet on her hand, “Michael only took precautions with the enclosed rooms, like mine and yours.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark once again had an indecipherable look on his face that quickly disappeared, “Okay, once you get there, wait for my signal. I need to fix up Jarvis before we leave so we’re not flying blind.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar nodded and went to the vent, pointedly ignoring the swell of hope when he said: “we”.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, wait, here,” Mr. Stark called and took something small from the Iron Man armor, making his way over to his niece. It was small and in the dim light she could tell it was a tan colour, “Put this in your ear.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar knit her eyebrows together, “Why? What is it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s an earpiece, you know, for communication,” he reached forward to place it in her ear, but Skylar unconsciously flinched back, making Mr. Stark rear his hand back again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, I’m not-” he clenched his teeth, “It just goes in your ear, see?” He put it in his own ear to show the young brunette, “Just like that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar nodded and tried to relax, shuffling closer so that Mr. Stark could put the earpiece in himself. Stark slowly fitted the comm in her ear, surprisingly gentle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, I didn’t mean to flinch,” Skylar mumbled while handing Mr. Stark Tricky, suddenly self-conscious.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The genius was already shaking his head before Skye could finish her apology, “don’t apologize, it’s not your fault. I just forgot...” mumbling the last bit, he stood up and helped Skylar back into the vent.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just wait a ways from the vent so the guard doesn’t hear you talking. Jarvis comm check?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar flinched again when the sound of Jarvis’ voice came through the earpiece and into her ear, a little too loud for her liking, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Hello, Miss Stark, can you hear me well?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, I can definitely tell that was too loud,” the billionaire chuckled, “Jay turn it down 30%.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“How is this, Miss Stark?”</span>
  </em>
  <span> Jarvis asked again, this time in a much softer volume.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Better,” Skylar gave a small smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good, I’ll let you know when you can attack. Good luck kiddo.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With a nod, Skylar crawled back into the vent.</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Forty minutes?! Are you serious?!”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar winced a little at the loud whisper from Tony Stark through her earpiece-comms-thing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark was currently attempting to fix Jarvis' scanning systems and had made the mistake of asking how long it would take the man to do it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Mr. Stark, shush."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He ignored her, </span>
  <em>
    <span>"You insult me, Jarvis. There is no way I am taking forty minutes to fix this. Imma do it in fifteen."</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>"That would prove to be impossible, sir."</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>"Watch me."</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar suppressed a giggle at the duo's antics, leaning her head back against the wall of the vent. She had decided to hide at the far end of the shaft from where the open grate was so as to not get caught by the guard. Even though the guy had headphones in, playing some kind of rock music that could be heard even from where Skylar was in the vent. Maybe it was to keep himself awake, but it explained why he hadn't heard Skye and Mr. Stark at all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Another five minutes went by, filled with the genius grumbling and bickering with the A.I., Skylar trying not to nod off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Man was she tired.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"...about Kayla?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar blinked and shook her head awake, "I'm sorry, what'd you say?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark chuckled, </span>
  <em>
    <span>"I said what about Kayla, but know that I think about it, it's a horrible name."</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar shrugged even though he couldn't see it, "I guess. It's a nice name, why?"</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>"Naw, naw, it's a horrible name. Doesn't suit you, what about Melody?"</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar blanched, "Me?"</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>"Yeah you, if you're coming with me to the Big Apple, you are </span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>not</em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span> keeping the name Skylar or Olive. So? Melody. What about that one?"</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar tried to push pass her shock and speak, but what came out instead was a bunch of small stutters.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“You sound like a skipping record player, kid, you okay there?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Y-You really want me to come with you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark went silent, making Skylar think that he was reconsidering his answer. When he finally answered, his tone was the complete opposite, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Of course you’re coming with me. What, did you think I would just leave you here with my sociopathic brother?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Well, yes.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar pursed her lips but didn’t get the chance to answer, Stark plowing on through, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“There is no way I am leaving you here. Not with him. No ‘ifs,’ ‘ands,’ or ‘buts’ about it. So, since we’re </span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>both</em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span> getting out of here and never looking back, we are not keeping that name of yours.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>At this point, Skylar definitely couldn’t contain her joy and excitement. She was really going, she was leaving. The brunette didn’t really know how to feel, it was almost surreal. But that didn’t stop Skylar from grinning and hugging her knees while Mr. Stark continued,</span>
  <em>
    <span> “Now I’m thinking maybe not Melody, it’s a nice name but it doesn’t seem like you. How about something short, or maybe even longer? Like uhhhhh, Charlotte? Or Anastasia? I think I knew a girl with that name.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar finally let herself giggle and play along, “I don’t know if I like those names, Anastasia sounds old.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark let out another chuckle, </span>
  <em>
    <span>"Okay, what about Chloe? No, too 'mean girls', how about Mary?"</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>They went back and forth like that for the next ten minutes, Tony being the one coming up with names and jokes to go along with them while Skylar just commented with a no or maybe. And, as foreshadowed by Jarvis, Mr. Stark did </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> finish the repairs on the Iron Man suit. Though he repeatedly stated that he was "</span>
  <em>
    <span>almost done."</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>"Alright then, what do </span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>you</em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span> think your name should be?"</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>"Um…"</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>"Like, try a favorite person or a role model or something. Who's your role model?"</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar had to think about that one for a minute. Who</span>
  <em>
    <span> was </span>
  </em>
  <span>her role model? She hadn't really thought about something like that before.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Maybe Miss Black Widow?"</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>"Natasha? Natasha Romanoff? Why? She's terrifying."</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar shrugged, "I dunno… she's seems smart and strong. A-and, well, she came from a bad place right? Somewhere that was trying to turn her evil. But she stopped them, and then turned to the good side. She saved the world from </span>
  <em>
    <span>aliens.</span>
  </em>
  <span>"</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>"So did the rest of the Avengers, kid."</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>"I know, but she was still there. And she helped a lot."</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>"Yeah.. yeah she did."</span>
  </em>
  <span> He paused for a second, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Well, I don’t know how she’d feel about you being named after her. It </span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>is</em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span> a Russian name. But there are other versions of the name.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar perked up, “Really?”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Yeah, all names have different versions and spellings, even yours and mine.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are the different ones for yours?”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Well, I think the girl version of Anthony is Anthea and Toni with an ‘i’ instead of a ‘y’. I know like three different women who are just named Toni.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar hummed, leaning her head back on the vent wall again.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“There’s the spanish version ‘Antonio,’ a Russian version of ‘Anton’ - at least I think that’s Russian. But yeah, there are boys named Skylar, but sometimes spelled differently, or boys just named ‘Sky’.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are the different versions of Natasha?”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Leeeets see, um,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>he clicked his tongue quietly, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“I think there’s a Spanish version; Natalia, and an American version; Natalie. Jarvis? Any others?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Not according to my databases, unless you want to consider the 48 different spellings of the name.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Oo, yeah, gonna be a hard no on that one. What do you think, kiddo? Wanna be named Natalia or Natalie.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar stuck her tongue out and her face pinched, “Mmm, no. They sound too old.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Yeah, I agree. Damn this is hard,”</span>
  </em>
  <span> Mr. Stark chuckled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar pursed her lips, “Sorry, I don’t mean to make it hard.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Naw, don’t worry about it, kid. You wanna find the perfect name, and what better time to think of one than now? While I’m trying to prove Jarvis wrong.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar giggled and sighed through her nose. She racked her brain, trying to think of a name that spoke to her. Maybe from movies? The brunette once again racked her brain through the list of movie characters she liked, seeing if any names stuck.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Sally? No.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Velma? Nope.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Daphne? Mm-mm.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Chell? No, no, no.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Kiadashmaga, uh Kiadakash? Kida?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>No.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Lilo?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Wendy?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Pfft, </span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>Barbie?</em>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>No, no, and no.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Gosh, why is this so diffi-</span>
</p>
<ol>
<li><em><span> OH.</span></em></li>
</ol><p>
  <span>Not Kida, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Koda.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>How could I forget about Koda?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“There is a name, I think.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Yeah? Lay it on me.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar paused, feeling uneasy for some unknown reason, “There was a character from a movie that I really liked, called Brother Bear. His name was Koda.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark went silent and a few seconds turned into a full minute before he finally said, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Koda? Like, with a K? Or a C?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think a ‘K’. I always really liked that name. I don’t know, it’s probably not even a </span>
  <em>
    <span>girl’s</span>
  </em>
  <span> name-”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“No, it is, it is. It’s a girl’s name,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>the billionaire paused, leaving Skylar wondering how he would know that. Mr. Stark’s voice almost sounded heavy, but she couldn’t discern what he could’ve been thinking. Was it a bad name? It probably just didn’t suit her- </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Koda’s a good name. I think I like it.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really?”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Yeah, why not. It’s a neat, unique name, I think it’ll suit you. Did the character have a longer name than Koda?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I think it was just Koda. I don’t know if there is a longer version of it in general, but I really like it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Okay, well. Keep thinking on it, we won’t make any big decisions like your name until we’re back in New York City safe and sound.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar could practically see him nodding, but his voice was still heavy, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Okay.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>"Oh thank fuck. Hah! Twenty-eight minutes!"</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar woke with a start, sitting up quickly and looked around her surroundings.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Where am I?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What happened?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What-</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>"Jarvis prep flight and do a full reboot on scanning systems. If there's anything else wrong that </span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>isn't</em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span> needed during fight or flight, keep it to yourself."</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Jarvis. Tony Stark. Iron Man. The escape.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>"As usual, sir."</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar let out a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. It was just Mr. Stark, not Michael, just Tony.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She listened to the two bicker through the comms, closing her eyes and leaning back against the cool surface of the vent.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>"Alright, time to put the plan into action. Is Skylar still asleep?"</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>He knew she had fallen asleep? What time was it?</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>"Not according to my scans, sir. Her breathing has returned to a normal pattern and-"</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>"Ah shit. Sorry, kiddo, did I wake you?"</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar rubbed her eyes and stifled a yawn (it came out anyway), "Yessir, s’rry I f’ll asleep.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“No, it’s alright. It’s waaaay past your bedtime, isn’t it?” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Mr. Stark mused, his voice soft.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar hummed and stretched a bit, “You fixed Jarvis?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The genius chuckled as if he was laughing at an inside joke, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Yeah, Sleeping Beauty, I fixed Jarvis. We’re all ready to go.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar perked up and shook her head, willing the sleepiness to go away, “Okay, gimme a minute. I’ve been, um,” she blinked a few times, “I was thinking of a plan.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Yeah? Wutcha got, kiddo?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>The brunette looked at the gauntlet on her hand for a few seconds and mulled her options. The guard may have been listening to music, but that didn’t mean his eyes were closed. He was standing right in front of Mr. Stark’s cell, keeping his eyes trained on each corner of the hallway, a gun and flashlight in his holster. Skylar could see the lingering fear of Micheal permeating the air around him. He wasn’t keeping a lookout for the sake of doing it; he was keeping a looking out to avoid the wrath of Micheal Christopher Stark.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In a way, Skylar felt pity. She understood his fear. Skylar too would do anything to avoid her father’s wrath. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But now? The guard could go screw himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar began crawling to the right of the vent, approaching a corner and turning with it. She then crawled out of the vent opening into the hallway that ran perpendicular to the cell hall.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Peeking around the corner, Skylar pursed her lips and thought. There weren’t any rocks around, only a couple of boxes near Mr. Stark’s cell door closest to the young brunette, and the two vent openings, but she wouldn’t be able to do anything with those. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Kid? What’s going on?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar jumped, “Shush,” she whispered, almost inaudibly.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Why what’s wrong? Why’d you move?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“If I went out of the vent in front of your cell the guard would have seen me. Now, hold on a minute.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Suddenly, Skylar had an idea. She shoved a hand inside of her pocket and pulled out seven screws from the vent in her room and the vent in Mr. Stark’s cell. She had taken them just in case she needed to make a quick run back to her room and screw the vent shut again. Michael was very perceptive, especially with Skylar. He would know if the screws were removed or not.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar took one screw and leaned back into the open, rearing her hand back and throwing it as far as she could across the hall. It clacked against the ground coming to rest a few feet from the end of the hall. The guard didn’t move, not noticing the small object or the sounds it made.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar sighed, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Well, I guess we’ll try throwing all of them.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Huffing, the brunette dumped all of the screws into her right hand and reared back again. She took a breath and threw with all of her strength, the screws making multiple pings and clacks against the concrete floor. This time, the guard did notice, whether it was from the sound or seeing them, Skylar didn’t know, but he turned to his right and took out his headphones with confusion and suspicion. The air around him vibrated and went jagged with uncertainty as he stepped away from the door and towards the opposite hall. Clicking on his flashlight and pulling out his pistol he surveyed the area, “who’s there?”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Kid, what’s going on?”</span>
  </em>
  <span> Stark asked again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar quietly moved to the boxes by Mr. Stark’s cell and peered out. The guard was still sweeping the hall, almost making it to the end. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She began to follow behind, far enough back that he wouldn’t be able to see her. When the guard made it to the end of the hall, he trained his flashlight down to the right, looking for a few seconds before relaxing and clicking the flashlight off with a huff.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar shoved the glove against the man’s back, wincing as visible sparks protruded from her palm effectively electrocuting the <strike>poor</strike> guard. He seized then abruptly fell forward, hitting the ground with a thud.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar stood still for a minute, waiting for any sudden moves from the criminal, but none came.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Kid? Hey, what happened? Jay said you used the-”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“It worked,” Skylar whispered, a small smile forming on her face.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Wha-”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mr. Stark it worked!” She whispered again and crouched next to the fallen guard to grab his keys.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Yes! Hell yes! Haha!” </span>
  </em>
  <span>The genius cheered while Skylar unlocked the door to the cell and shoved it open.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Inside, Mr. Stark was grinning toothily, Jarvis at his side as he quickly enveloped the brunette in a celebratory hug, Skylar immediately tensing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Great job, kid!” He said, laughing and Skylar relaxed, hugging her uncle back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark released the hug, gave her a smirk, then stood back up, the gauntlet on Skylar’s arm coming off and reattaching to the Iron Man armor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ready to go?” Mr. Stark asked as the armour folded around him, giving the man complete control.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar smiled and nodded, “Absolutely.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before the duo made their move, Mr. Stark ended up placing the unconcious guard into his own cell, outfitting him with a small circular light around his neck that came from one of Iron Man’s gauntlets. However, it also rendered that repulsor inoperable. When Skylar had protested, Mr. Stark said that since he would be carrying Skylar back to New York City, he wouldn’t need it anyway. Besides, they needed something that looked like the arc reactor if anyone came to check in. By the time anyone realized something was wrong, it would be too late and the duo would be halfway to NYC if not already there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As they snuck towards the exit, they approached another hallway on the left. At first, Skye thought nothing of it, but then she screeched to a halt with panic.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Kid? What’s wrong?” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Mr. Stark asked from her comms, his voice not coming through the speaker in his suit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jarvis ended up speaking for her, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Sir, there appears to be someone approaching from the left hallway.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Shit.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar’s breathing picked up, she could feel the woman’s thoughts vibrate, the energy pulsing with determined fervor. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>No, no, </span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>no</em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span>! Not when we’re so close.</span>
  </em>
  <span> She could clearly see the exit at the far end, illuminated in red from the sign above.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Alright. Kid, stay back I can-”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait,” Skylar interrupted, holding a hand back to the billionaire. She closed her eyes and focused on the criminal’s thoughts and energy fluctuations. She was still approaching, slowly but surely the woman would eventually turn the corner. Skylar hadn’t done something like this in a long time, it took a lot out of her, especially at this young age. She picked apart the waves, major fluctuations turning into soft pulses and headed deeper. A soft hum filled her ears as she pushed through to the criminal’s thoughts. She ignored it. Mr. Stark was saying something through the earpiece, but Skylar didn’t register it.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Turn around.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Another shift, another switch.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Go.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>With one final shift, Skylar opened her eyes, “rec room.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The woman criminal stopped right before she could turn the corner, taking a step back. Skylar and Mr. Stark held their breaths as she stood there, thinking. Then, the woman took a step back, then another, and another, before turning around completely and walking back down the way she came.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The duo let out a breath of relief at the sound of retreating footsteps, but Mr. Stark was left speechless and completely confused. Skylar could see his bewilderment in the air. However, before she could explain anything she pitched forward, stumbling as a nasty wave of dizziness hit her at full force.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A steady hand caught her and helped keep her standing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jesus, are you okay?” Mr. Stark asked, his faceplate up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar nodded shakily, “Y-yes, sorry.” She almost felt sick, her head swam and, coupled with her concussion, began to throb in time with her heartbeat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not gonna pass out?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar shook her head no and winced at </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span> terrible decision.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good. Now what </span>
  <em>
    <span>the hell</span>
  </em>
  <span> was </span>
  <em>
    <span>that?!” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Mr. Stark asked, exasperated, but Skylar was too exhausted to flinch or respond. “She was coming towards us, and then you said </span>
  <em>
    <span>two words</span>
  </em>
  <span> and she freaking turned around?! </span>
  <em>
    <span>What the-</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Mr. Stark,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Jarvis interrupted,</span>
  <em>
    <span> “if I could suggest saving this conversation for when you are both back at the tower, that would be a much better option than risking getting caught.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark huffed and looked around, his faceplate closing, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Okay, okay. I’m gonna pick you up, alright, kiddo?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar nodded and was immediately scooped up into Iron Man’s arms. Mr. Stark started running, Beta Protocol making his footsteps muffled. He passed the left hall and made his way down the current one. A large neon ‘EXIT’ sign illuminated the doorway and the walls around it, another hallway branching off somewhere to the left. Mr. Stark stopped, looking at the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“It can’t be that easy,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>the billionaire mumbled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not,” Skylar responded and pointed towards the top of the door, “There’s a security system. If someone unauthorized opens the door, the alarms will go off.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark huffed again, “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Of course,”</span>
  </em>
  <span> he looked around for a minute, then settled on something down the left corridor, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Jarvis you know what to do. Bypass the firewalls carefully and shut Michael’s system down for only a few seconds so we can leave.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Yes, sir.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>They waited, growing ansty. Skylar laid her head against her uncle’s shoulder and sighed, “I think I have powers.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark glanced down at her, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“I mean, I figured that part. How’d you do that? Mind control?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar shook her head forcefully, “No. No, not mind control. I…” she paused, “I’m not sure how I do it. It’s hard to explain.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“That’s alright, we’ll figure it out,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>they fell silent, waiting for Jarvis’ okay.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark took a breath, seemingly like he was unsure if he should ask something. Just when Skylar thought he wouldn’t, her uncle let out a small, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“How’d you get them?” </span>
  </em>
  <span>but he sounded like he already knew. As if he was just asking to be sure.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar shrugged, arms unconsciously tightening their hold around Stark’s neck. How </span>
  <em>
    <span>did</span>
  </em>
  <span> she get her powers? </span>
  <em>
    <span>I don’t remember…</span>
  </em>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know.” It was truthful, at least. She wasn’t trying to lie. Skylar didn’t really know, she only had a small feeling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark nodded and stayed silent again. Skylar began to worry. Was he afraid of her? Disgusted? Horrified? Would he leave her behind? Skylar was just trying to keep themselves from getting caught, she never really uses that ability. In fact, that was the one ability she hated the most. Being able to alter someone’s train of thought? Forcing suggestions into their heads? It was so-</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I gotta admit, kid,”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>here it comes,</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“That’s pretty damn cool.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar blinked and mumbled, “you do?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark chuckled</span>
  <em>
    <span>, “Hell yeah, that's…” </span>
  </em>
  <span>He shook his head,</span>
  <em>
    <span> “I mean, being able to sense people and have telepathic abilities? I mean-”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not mind control.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I know, but it’s still cool. Even cooler that you can do that </span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>without </em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span>it being ‘mind control’. Definitely comes in handy, huh?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Skylar was once again surprised at Mr. Stark’s response. She hadn’t expected </span>
  <em>
    <span>anything</span>
  </em>
  <span> like that to come out of his mouth. She almost didn’t believe him, but there was nothing she could see that would prove him to be lying.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was telling the truth.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Mr. Stark, I have bypassed security and am standing by to deactivate the alarm.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Fantastic, how long do we get?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Fifteen Seconds, sir.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Perfect, do it now,”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Deactivated.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark pushed open the door, quickly closing it shut behind him and opening his faceplate. The air was cool, a strong breeze blowing the hair out of Skylar’s face. She breathed it in, the mustiness from the warehouse no longer filling her lungs. There were no lights on outside the warehouse, no lights from inside either, making the surrounding area pitch black. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were located somewhere in upstate New York, far up North where the city light couldn’t reach them. Therefore, there was barely any light pollution to mask out the sea of stars in the sky.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was beautiful. If it weren’t for the imminent danger of the criminals in the warehouse (Micheal), Skylar would have asked to stay and look.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m really leaving,” Skylar whispered, “I’m- I’m really… I’m really </span>
  <em>
    <span>leaving</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” Tears began to well up in her eyes. She tried to blink them away, but it only succeeded in making them fall.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And you are never coming back,” Mr. Stark replied firmly, “I promise.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar sniffed and nodded, tightening her hug around Tony’s neck again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark began to smile, but it quickly transformed into an angry grimace, but it wasn’t directed at Skylar. He mumbled something inaudible as he looked into the star-filled sky.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Skylar asked, adjusting her hold on her owl so the air didn’t blow him away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark blinked as if surprised he’d said it aloud, “Nothing, nevermind. Let’s go, kiddo.” He gave the young Stark another small smile before his face mask closed and he activated his repulsors.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar squeaked as they lifted off the ground, Mr. Stark laughing in response,</span>
  <em>
    <span> “Hold on tight! Especially to your owl friend!”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Skylar did what she was told, squishing the owl between her and Iron Man.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“To infinity and beyond!” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Mr. Stark shouted and full-throttled into the air. The cold, October wind was much stronger now, but Skye found she didn't care. She grinned, watching the warehouse’s dark shape grow smaller and smaller, the ripples of energy surrounding the criminals began to subside, leaving Skylar with a nice silence. Except for Mr. Stark, but the waves around him were relatively calm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Stark’s energy suddenly fluctuated and a flash of red appeared, but it all quickly returned to normal. Just when Skylar was going to ignore it, Mr. Stark once again said something almost inaudible. Almost.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This time, Skylar caught it and, even though he was practically growling out those words, couldn't help but feel safer.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>"No more second chances."</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>It was ominous, but Mr. Stark didn't seem to be angry with her. As if to further her thoughts, Tony seemed to tighten his grip around Skylar's small frame. She laid her cheek against the cool metal of the Iron Man's shoulder, her eyes drooping.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I am so happy you weren't a firefly.</span>
  </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Yay! The Stark duo finally escaped the warehouse and are heading back to New York City. I wonder how Michael will react. Probably not well lol.</p><p>Now that I've caught up with the chapters I've written, it'll take a bit longer to upload the next one, especially since my college classes have started up again. I'm hoping for two weeks and I'll post the next one.</p><p>Comment and tell me what you think! I absolutely suck at editing chapters so if I made a mistake don't be afraid to tell me, I don't have a beta reader so alllll mistakes are my fault lol</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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